Monday, January 28, 2013

THE ALIENS ARE COMING (1980)

I have very little memory of this Quinn Martin-produced (one of his last, I believe) TV movie/pilot film from March of 1980, but I did watch it, and clipped this TV Guide ad for my scrapbook. The eclectic cast which includes Melinda Fee from The Invisible Man and Escape from The Planet Of the Apes' Eric Braeden, certainly looks intriguing. Any other Star Kids remember this one? Hopefully better than I do?

Oddly, The Aliens Are Coming did get a VHS release from budget label Goodtimes in the 80s, and I'm thinking I might try and get my hands on a copy one of these days so I can review it for Space: 1970.

I have no recollection of this pilot, but I always associate Laborteaux with the "socially -relevant" (as it were) episodes of Little House on the Prairie where he becomes a morphine junky and they show him robbing folks and puking up white goo behind a barn as he goes through withdrawals. Not appropriate white Protestant behaviors, Sir! Especially not on the prairie!

I remember seeing this a couple of times when I was in my early teens,I remember that the aliens were some kind of energy being able to take over humans and control them,when the hero is being attacked by one he electrocutes himself which drives the alien out.I saw this before I saw the invaders so I never noticed the quinn martin name or the similarities in plot,I did remember mathew Laborteaux both from little house and whiz kids I think the last thing I saw him in was wes cravens deadly friend

I remember watching this on ITV back in the eary 80's. In fact TV Times (the listings magazine of ITV) ran an accompanying article about famous SF monsters which I've still got in a scrapbook, I'll try and seek it out. I'd love to see it again, I remember the aliens were like giant catepilars but we saw very little of them and their UFO. Mostly it was an 80's Invaders as you say.

The movie is now being serialized on YouTube. Always got a kick out of this TV pilot, both for its weird aliens (glowing green energy beings with light bulb eyes who traveled around their spaceship in machines that looked like reptilian Daleks & talked in evil Optimus Prime voices when not possessing human bodies) & it's wonderfully eccentric hero (a fast-talking scientist/investigator who had designed the perfect hamburger... & was more than happy to draw the blueprint on a napkin so his waitress could take it back to the cook!).Great fun!

ABOUT THIS BLOG

This blog is dedicated to the science fiction films and television series of the 1970s - give or take a few years (say, 1969-1983) - including such nostalgic favorites as Star Wars, Space: 1999, UFO, Space Academy, the original Battlestar Galactica, Jason of Star Command, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Logan's Run and many others.

But be warned: I still love these productions with all the enthusiasm I held for them as a kid, and they will be treated here with affection and respect. If you're looking for someone to snarkily denigrate "old" movies - or like to do that yourself - you've come to the wrong site.

So journey with us back to the days when special effects were created by skillful hands and spaceships were detailed models, when robots were obligatory comedy relief, when square-jawed heroes and cloaked villains battled among the stars -- and the future was fun!

PLEASE NOTE:I do not sell (nor even buy, all that often) the memorabilia and merchandise I write about on this blog, nor do I have any idea what value your "collectibles" might have. That's not what this site is about, so please don't ask me.

ABOUT ME

Christopher Mills is a professional writer of comic books and short fiction in a variety of genres, as well as a DVD reviewer for several pop culture websites. His taste in entertainment clearly peaked when he was about 15, which certainly explains his embarrassing obsession with James Bond, hardboiled crime fiction, comic books, paperback pulps, space opera, Universal/Hammer/Toho Monsters, sword & sorcery sagas, old genre TV shows and vintage B-movies.

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Reviewing genre DVDs Since 2005

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